from Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News,

Other than the coaching position, the captain usually follows as the next logical scapegoat on a hockey team that fails to meet expectations.

Few take into account that the more likely reason for missing the Stanley Cup playoffs is roster construction and the fact that certain players failed to meet standards set in previous seasons. The Flyers have quite a few of those passengers this season.

It didn’t help, either, that the Flyers traded away both of their alternate captains from last season - Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen. Berube admitted the Flyers missed Timonen’s “calming influence” in the locker room.

Even so, Giroux said he would not change anything the way this season has been handled from a captain’s perspective.

“We’re obviously not in the situation that we want to be in right now,” Giroux said. “We made a lot of mistakes that cost us that. It’s not one, two or three players - it’s everybody that comes together.

“I think we had times during the year that we played very good hockey, we played as a team, and our chemistry was really good. I don’t know how to explain (our troubles). When we have big games, we find a way to play at our best. I don’t know if we’re not ready or our motivation isn’t as good when we play against teams that are not as good. It’s obviously something we’ve got to look at.”

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